The Latest: Town's residents speak bitterly of Hastert

CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert's hush-money case (all times local):

4:40 p.m.

Residents of Yorkville, Illinois, once boasted of the role the town played in Dennis Hastert's ascent from the local high school coach to U.S. House speaker. Now several are speaking bitterly about him.

FILE - In this June 9, 2015 file photo, former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert arrives at the federal courthouse in Chicago for his arraignment on federal charges in his hush-money case in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune is citing unidentified law enforcement sources as saying at least four people have made "credible allegations of sexual abuse" against Hastert. In a Thursday April 7, 2016 story, the newspaper says it has determined the identities of three accusers, all men whose allegations stem from when they were teenagers and Hastert was their coach in Yorkville, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

They talked Saturday about a government filing the day before that detailed allegations that he abused several former students.

Hastert pleaded guilty to breaking banking laws to pay hush money to one alleged victim. His sentencing is April 27. He taught and coached at Yorkville High from 1965 to 1981.

Bob Evans is a former school colleague and friend of Hastert's. He said Hastert helped put Yorkville on the map during his eight years as House speaker. He says the pride people felt about Hastert makes the revelations even more painful.

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3:05 p.m.

Dennis Hastert's lawyer has responded to a new filing by prosecutors that alleges the former U.S. House speaker abused at least four former students.

A statement emailed Saturday on attorney Thomas Green's behalf doesn't mention abuse. It speaks only in general terms about past misconduct by the 74-year-old Republican.

It says "Hastert acknowledges that as a young man he committed transgressions for which he is profoundly sorry."

His accusers say the abuse occurred when Hastert taught and coached in Yorkville, Illinois, in the 1970s and 1980s.

Green repeats what an earlier defense filing contends. He says "the public shaming" and "isolation" of Hastert has already been a significant punishment. Wednesday's filing asks for probation when Hastert is sentenced April 27.

Prosecutors' Friday filings detailed the alleged abuse for the first time. It said it occurred in a locker room and in a motel room.

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10:30 a.m.

Comedian Andy Richter says he remembers the chair facing the showers that Dennis Hastert placed in the boys' locker room at the high school where Hastert coached wrestling before becoming a congressman.

Richter went to Yorkville High School in the 1980s. He tweeted about the chair Friday night after prosecutors mentioned it in a court filing in the former House speaker's hush-money case.

Richter, the sidekick on Conan O'Brien's TV show, says he was "struck by how easy it was" for Hastert to do that. He added: "Nobody questioned it."

Prosecutors say Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to a man he sexually abused when the man was a 14-year-old wrestler on Hastert's team. The court filing details sexual abuse allegations involving five former students.

Hastert pleaded guilty in October to breaking banking laws in connection to the payments.

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12:40 a.m.

Prosecutors in Dennis Hastert's hush-money case are seeking up to six months in prison for the former U.S. House speaker.

Prosecutors said they are seeking zero to six months in prison as part of a Friday court filing. The filing also says Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to a victim for sex abuse when victim was 14 years old.

The 74-year-old Republican managed to keep any hint of sexual misconduct quiet throughout a political career that carried him from the Illinois Legislature to the halls of Congress and eventually to the speaker's office, where he was second in the line of succession to the presidency.

Hastert pleaded guilty in October to breaking banking laws as he sought to pay $3.5 million to someone referred to as Individual A to ensure the person kept quiet about Hastert's past misconduct.

He is scheduled to be sentenced April 27.

FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2015 file photo, former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert leaves the federal courthouse in Chicago. Federal prosecutors say when they questioned Hastert about his large cash withdrawals the former House speaker told them he was being extorted by someone making a false claim of sex abuse. In a court filing Friday, April 8, 2016, prosecutors say Hastert agreed to let investigators record phone conversations he had with the man who later became known as ¿Individual A.¿ Agents later questioned Individual A, who told them about abuse that occurred when he was 14. (AP Photo/Matt Marton File)